England exposed a myth in Paris

The one sure thing, according to legend, is that if France rule the first quarter you are doomed. Well, England exposed the myth. They remained calm after conceding two tries and regained control, increasing the pace of the game on their terms. And then they lost control at the death, allowing a flagging set of giants to unleash one killer handling movement. England's opener was a consummately executed away day, all bar the important part – the winning. Eddie Butler

France leave their backs feeding on scraps

Started with a flourish and ended brilliantly, the French, at their most superb. Jules Plisson, Brice Dulin, Yoann Huget, Gaël Fickou, outshone only by Dimitri Szarzewski, whose catch and pass set up the victory. But the hooker didn't start, and between the outside-half, Plisson, and the willing runners there was nothing but clunk. Until France pass in the centre – or pick Szarzewski in midfield – the watching world and the French back three may be living on scraps. EB

Schmidt did well to share the experience of winning

The best bit about the Ireland performance against Scotland was that it came injury free and with experience shared out to five players who had no experience of the Six Nations. Joe Schmidt's mission is to go the World Cup in 2015 with a squad of 30 players who can thrive at Test level, not a group of 24 with six extra for use only in case of emergency. This was an investment towards that. Brendan Fanning

Hogg needs help if Scotland are to prosper

Why is it that Scotland can produce so much good approach work and have it lead to an empty box where the tries are supposed to be? Maybe it's because their only game-breaker is too far away from the ball. Stuart Hogg is lethal from any distance and any situation, but they need more men capable of something similar, and higher up the pitch. BF

Wales almost make a great case for the defence

It takes a defence coach to notice these things – Shaun Edwards pointed that out as Wales kept their tryline intact for the first half on Saturday. They have technically made it through an entire Six Nations without conceding a try (all the tries they conceded last year were scored by Ireland in the first 43 minutes of the first game). It pains us to have to point out to him, though, that the clock read 42:33 when Ireland scored their third and final try last year; Michele Campagnaro's first on Saturday was scored on 42:01. So they missed making it through five lots of 80 minutes without conceding by 32 seconds. It's the kind of thing to drive a defence coach insane. An extraordinary achievement, nevertheless. Michael Aylwin

Italy's gulf between club and country is bewildering

It is well established by now that form in the Heineken Cup bears little relation to form in the Six Nations. All the same. It is bewildering to compare Italy's hard, and at times, quite sophisticated performance at the home of the champions on Saturday with some of the results suffered by much the same personnel in the Heineken Cup. Treviso went to Belfast in December, for example, and lost 48-0 to Ulster with nine players from Saturday's squad in their lineup. A week after that, Zebre lost 64-3 at Saracens with five of Saturday's squad in their XV and two more on the bench. Sergio Parisse can't really be making that much of a difference, can he? MA